Come gather 'around the fire...

[kismet_loop_mods]

Who: Anyone
What: A gathering for the citizens of Haven.  A time to relax and mingle...and a little something more.
When: All day and night of the 14th
Where: Outside of The Hub, and perhaps inside too if you wish.
Event: Not everything is as it seems.  Some of the offerings will cause some...unexpected results.

The Guardians have been hard at work getting the large open street outside of the Hub and Warehouse set up for a massive gathering.  There were tables set up all over the place full of all kinds of food, drink, and fuel.  A large bonfire had been set up in the middle of everything, and various volunteers rotated in and out throughout the day and night playing various kinds of music or providing other types of entertainment.  There would be a constant flow of music, skits, acrobatics, and magic tricks.  The festivities will be held throughout the day.

Not everything would go as planned, though.  There were a few tables among that many that had been set up courtesy of the Miasma.  They go unnoticed with everything else going on.  Really, there is enough for literally hundreds of people of various races, the handful of suspicious tables are easy to miss.  The contents of these tables will have peculiar effects on those who consume the contents offered upon them.  Nothing harmful really, just some effects to further encourage the lighthearted purpose of this gathering.

((ooc: tag in, mingle, have fun.  Effects can last for only the party or through the end of the week, and can be mixed as much as you want.))

Comments

[fractalize]

"Elsa! My name's Elsa, Jade. I'm so glad you're doing better though! Oh, I was worried sick for a while, but then Galos happened, and well...I didn't think to say hello afterwards."

"Upgrade? I'm afraid I don't follow." but no matter, she still grinned.

[10_20_15_5_50]

"I think I saw an anthology when I was in the Warehouse, once. This brick of a book---had to have a hundred of his stories. I'll see if I can't find it for you sometime soonish." It would have to be 'soonish,' since Sam couldn't remember exactly where in the Warehouse she'd seen it... and the stacks were so many. "If I had the opportunity, I'd take you to another, since you seem to be enjoying this bonfire quite a bit. When I was in university, there'd usually be one accompanying the ill-advised Gopher Hill Grand Prix, but we'll get to that."

The adept looked at Elsa, slightly surprised and entirely earnest.

"I do want to know, though."

[fractalize]

Gopher Hill Grand Prix, University, Anthology...yeah, she might as well be speaking Greek. She reaches over for a flute off of a side table, humming with amusement. Oh, how was she going to start this epic.

"Okay, okay. Well. It's a little bit of a long...confusing story without any context, but...you'll get it. Anyway." She takes a short sip out of her flute and with only a moment's thought.

"To start, I sort of froze over my entire country. On accident. On my coronation day."

[10_20_15_5_50]

That was some start.

Sam spent a long moment staring, eyebrows up, before she shook herself and settled---with an effort---back into something approximating her usual attitude.

"I've got a couple of questions, and I find myself f-floored," nice save, Samantha! "but I'm following. Do tell, please."

[fractalize]

"So that happened, meanwhile I was...well, I panicked, like anyone would, and I ran away. And my sister, Anna. Anna came to find me, try and make me feel better, but you know. My whole country. I was still a little unnerved. Well, then I pretty much---well, I did it again. Only to her. On accident! On accident. But to her heart. So things sort of went....downhill from there."

NO BIG DEAL. No big deal. Right?

"Sorry, what was your question?"

[10_20_15_5_50]

"My first question..." What was it? Right. Back on-track, despite not the start but the whole story so-far. "Was going to be 'excuse me, but how?' My second question would be 'did everybody get better?'"

It felt like a legitimate query, since she'd started to suspect magic---something which would explain Elsa's unusual aura. She hoped it was one, and hoped like hell the answer would be an affirmative.

"Third---your coronation? I've heard correctly?"

[the_other_green_seeker]

Jadewing looked briefly surprised when the woman- Elsa, she'd said her name was- confessed that she'd been worried about him. That wasn't something he expected from other Cybertronians, never mind humans.

But he was quickly distracted by less complicated (or so he thought) subjects. "You know, the ice... thing," he gestured vaguely indicating his lack of understanding about how it really worked. "Keep tellin' Snowfall that he should look into some cryo weapons. Goes with his name and all, ya know? But ones a Seeker could use 're hard to come by."

[the_other_green_seeker]

"Yep!", Jadewing confirmed. "You should see some of the stuff Mixmaster comes up with. One'a his 'special blends' had me seein' dancin' helio-hamsters for days. An' Cloudkicker wouldn't shut up about it for months."

Jade nodded. "Yeah me too," he said. "Specially the whole 'not gettin' shot at' part. Nice change from back home."

[the_other_green_seeker]

If Deckard wanted a familiar face, then that's what he'd get. "Heeeeey, Decakrd!", Jadewing greeted, making his way over to the blue mech somewhat unsteadily. "How's it going'?"

[fractalize]

"Oh. Oh! An upgrade. No, that's not an upgrade, that comes standard. At least for me!" She nods.

"Weapons, I'd have never thought. But if you need any inspiration, I could---well. Maybe help."

Weapons not so keen on, but providing ice and snow would help, and she loved to help.

[fractalize]

"Oh! Yes, yeah, she was fine. Act of true love, so on, so forth. We were all really worried for a while there though!" Again, said nonchalantly. Thanks to the intoxication.

"Oh, how, that's, uh. That's a thing, I should've probably explained awhile back, huh?" Now putting ice in your champagne was sort of a big no-no, but freezing the glass it was in?

Holding the flute out at arms length, frost crawls up to the rim.

"Yes. Coronation." Oh wait.

"I didn't....tell you that either, did I."

[the_other_green_seeker]

"Really? Huh... didn' know humans could do that, outside of movies and slag," he said. "Pretty cool." It took a second or two but he realized the pun he'd unintentionally made and chuckled.

"Yeah, all Seekers come with is the standard arm weapons," he said, indicating one of his. "Gotta get something more interestin' if ya wanna get ahead. Like Thunda... Thundercracker's sonic booms or Skywarp's teleportin'. Somethin' to make ya stand out, ya know?"

icon keywords

[10_20_15_5_50]

This story was starting to sound like a full-on fairytale, but after befriending a fairy, (and a knight, and a dragon,) Sam wasn't about to discount it---not at all. She listened, rapt, until Elsa decided a demonstration was in order, startled into a wordless exclamation by the sight. Then:

"That's friggin' fantastic! What---what do you do, to do that? How long have you been able, and! An entire country..." Sam clapped her hands together, shaking her head and laughing a little. "I've got some good tricks, but they're all much smaller scale. Skin-deep stuff, I should say; that's my sphere."

She cupped her chin with one hand, and cast a contemplative eye at Elsa. "No, you didn't. Coronation... as in, you've become queen?" It hit her, really hit her, and the cupping hand rose to cover her face.

"Oh, man. It took me minutes to swear in front of you; my mother would be mortified."

[fractalize]

"Skin..deep? Wait, woah, I don't---follow. What're you----yes." She grinned, sort of waving it off.

"Yes. I'm queen---but where I live, not here, of course! Swearing---oh. I don't mind it at all. It happens. I'm not a prude." Actually, yes, she was. Just not when she was half a glass and well magically sloshed.

"I've had them for as long as I can remember, they're really just. There." she punctuates with a wave of her hand, and a neat little gust of flakes burst forth.

"There's a time I tried to suppress them, thinking maybe they'd go away, but then you know. Kingdom froze over and that was that."

[10_20_15_5_50]

"I've also got---ah, abilities; I can affect the superficial, the immediately-accessible, from first impressions and some assumptions to physical surfaces. It's not exactly easy to explain, but bottom line; I can work some witchery and have only ever met a handful of others who're able." Sam's surprise had started to fade in favour of delight and something resembling relief. "This is awesome... and alright."

She couldn't've kept a mischievous little grin from her face, even if she'd bothered to try.

"It's said 'profanity furnishes a relief denied even to prayer,' but since I like using sacres, I get the best of both."

[badboybikerbot]

"I have no idea what a helio-hamster is, but it sounds better than regular hamsters and therefor amazing."

A toast to helio-hamsters why not, Gunmax slams down the rest of his drink.

"Tell m about it. I mean, I guess we didn't have it as bad as you guys did, but still."

[the_other_green_seeker]

"Cybetronian wildlife," Jadewing said. "Cybertron Zoo had some, back when there was a Cybertron Zoo. Might even be some runnin' around here someplace."

And Jadewing has no idea what they're even toasting but it's not like he needs a reason to get more cratered than he already is at this point. So down goes the rest of his drink too!

"Pfft... Seekers are made to get shot at," Jadewing said. "Why you think we got these huge-aft symbols on our wings?" He wiggled his more visible wing in a decidedly uncoordinated way. "Might as well be wearin' a fraggin' bullseye, right?"

Much as Seekers loved their wings, it was a hilariously bad design choice. In fact it was so hilarious he started chuckling about it.

[the_other_green_seeker]

By the time Jadewing stumbled across the cat- almost literally so- he was so thoroughly drunk on the 'spiked' energon that he'd better hope that the magic didn't come with authentic hangover effects the next day. Right then, though, that was the last thing on Jadewing's processor. He was feeling great. Ok, so he wasn't especially steady on his feet. So what? Everything was about ten times funnier and more fun in his current state and he planned to enjoy it.

Almost stepping on cats, though, was not cool. "Whup... gotta watch that," he said, chuckling to himself. Then he got a better look at the feline in question. "Heeeeey... you look like Ravage, ya know that? Scept less... metal." That made him chuckle again. As if the cat was really gonna answer him.

[10_20_15_5_50]

"I'd... think almost anything would be better than getting shot at. It's an experience I'm going to do everything I'm able to avoid." Sam turned her hands up in emphasis, but allowed them to swing down and settle on her hips after a beat. "But! I'm glad to hear it's going good, and obligated to say: you should see some other people. I'm pretty much playing catch-up... or would be, but my ink is all for me."

[the_other_green_seeker]

"There's worse things," he said. "But yeah, avoid it if ya can. Not somethin' I'd recommend. Actually gettin' shot even less."

He chuckled at her description of her tattoos. "Usually see humans from the air; one kinda looks like another up there," he said. "But yeah, I hear that. You should see some'a the paint jobs Seekers get into. Dunno what the frag they were thinkin'..."

[10_20_15_5_50]

"Definitely duly noted." The adept nodded, speaking sincerely. "I'd like to see, but I'll settle for hearing about any especially interesting... or especially awful. If you wouldn't mind? You needn't name names."

[the_other_green_seeker]

"Aw, now not namin' names just takes all the fun outta it," he chuckled. "A couple'a the worst're Hooligan and Space Case. Hooligans got himself painted up like an Earth tiger. Orange base, black stripes, and red accents in robot mode to make it extra glaring. Then Space Case's got a white base with... I don' even know what the frag you'd call it. A blue and black grid type thing with a big neon pink squiggle on it an' even more pink in robot mode an' a blue helmet with a yellow faceplate. Seriously just what the frag?"

Space Case's ridiculous paint job just made him laugh more. Because it really was that stupid, and everything is more amusing when you're overcharged.

[fractalize]

"I'm afraid I still don't understand, like...people's opinion's of you? Really?" That's all she'd managed to understand so far.

"You know, that's not entirely incorrect. I know a few who swear quietly to themselves." she muses, sipping down the rest of her champagne flute.

[10_20_15_5_50]

"Okay, that's true. I was trying to be polite, but it's true; I'm not going to argue." Even if hanging around an obviously inebriated giant robot was a terrible idea, she found herself grinning up at Jadewing. The tone of the conversation was altogether all too and absurdly familiar---it could've blended into the aftermath of any karaeoke event on any campus anywhere. "White, with blue, black, and pink patterning? I can't say for certain until I've seen it myself, but I can think of one thing you could conceivably call that."

[10_20_15_5_50]

"Expectations more than opinions, but a bit of both. And I can manage more tangible effects, for shallow stuff---heal a scrape, open a scar, or---or push pigments so that they're somewhere else on the spectrum." It's an admittedly odd sphere, and stranger still for being between 'sympathetic' and 'blood' magic, but it's always made sense to Sam... Even if explaining isn't easy. "You and I have got to sit and talk shop sometime soon. Party's not the best place for it, but hell's bells! I'm glad I didn't learn later. All of this just got a little less lonely."

The gorl's grin softened, until she again glanced at Elsa, one eyebrow up.

"Am I looking at an example?"